Warner Bros Pushes Superman-Batman Movie To 2016

UPDATED: The studio’s new release date of May 6, 2016 is almost a year after the Superman-Batman movie’s original date and might sound familiar: it is the same weekend as an untitled Marvel movie, setting up a superhero showdown. It will now bow on Mother’s Day weekend and is playing chicken with Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse, which comes only a week after. Talk about a monster chasing your tail end. As it stands now, it will be Superman-Batman, X-Men the following weekend, and followed quickly by The Amazing Spider-Man 3 from Sony. Something’s will give eventually, otherwise they will cannibalize each other. A studio executive discounted a rumor circulating that actor Ben Affleck (who is playing Batman) hurt his leg and that was the reason for the delay. “We just want to do it right and need the time,” he said. Warner Bros is giving the old Superman-Batman date to Pan, which was to be released June 26, 2015, thereby keeping it away from being sandwiched between Fox’s Fantastic Four and Paramount’s Terminator. It also takes Pan off the the same date as Ted 2 from Universal to go to more comfortable grounds at the moment … because, as we know … the jockeying won’t end for months and studios are flush with remakes and sequels in 2015, unlike anything the industry has ever seen in its history.

Disagree. Had plenty so soul. And definitely better than that homage Singer made…although it was decent.

#NoBatfleck • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

“I wish they would make a sequel to Superman Returns instead.”

That’s literally the first time I’ve seen that written anywhere on the Internet.

Jon Baker • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Superman returns was worst boring ass Superman movie ever. Superman is not support to be deadbeat dad, lier, and a stalker. How the hell he lift mountain with full of kryptonite is so wrong too

chris • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

“I wish they would make a sequel to Superman Returns instead.”

That’s literally the first time I’ve seen that written anywhere on the Internet.

google search, you’re welcome.

If you are too lazy to do that go on rottentomaotes. The critics loved Superman Returns and hated Man of Steel.

But you’re right, nobody has ever said this /endsarcasm.

Alex • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Hahahahahha just stop please…you’re too much! Anyways i’d rather get a Green Lantern 2 with Ryan Reynolds than that fucking piece of crap Singer tried to do with Superman.

jon Baker • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Stalkerman returns 2 no thanks.

KalElFan • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Man of Steel was great IMO so I strongly disagree with you there chris. But I’d also like to see a sequel to Superman Returns at some point PROVIDED…

It’s FIXED! The significant problems in Superman Returns were ALL related to the idiotic, putrid decision to have him buzz off for 7 years or whatever it was in the backstory, in order to check for Kryptonian debris.

There was and is a simple fix for that. Just give him a reason (looming Brainiac threat or whatever, which would be the subject of the sequel), and he told Lois at the time. She then asked for the ol’ amnesia superkiss, which is entirely consistent with the movie being a sequel in spirit to the first two Reeve movies.

DC’s multiverse, once introduced via The Flash, would make it easy to do a sequel in, say 5 years or so after the Man of Steel standalones. The Superman Returns sequel would benefit from the better Man of Steel box office, because in a sense it’ll be part of the same (multiverse) continuity that began in Man of Steel. The market for the genre get the concept of alternate universes, which are ubiquitous in SF.

Mr. Majestyk • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

I’d be more interested in Joe Wright’s take on Superman vs. Batman.

Pazuzu with a z • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

So basically that means there are script problems.

andrew • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Script problems, or given all the casting notices, they’re turning it into more of a legitimate Justice League movie.

Dave • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

XMen comes out May 27th; Spidey on June 10th.

Not week to week to week after.

John • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

I’m guessing that Zack Snyder needs an extra year to make this even worse than Man of Steel. I REALLY hope that he’s replaced. I really liked Watchmen, but does every damn film have to look like slo-mo CGI 300 ?! If he screws around with Batman’s origin as bad as he did Superman’s….god help him..

Alex • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Man of Steel didn’t have any slow mo…..

Ryan • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

X-Men: Apocalypse is slated for release on the 27th May 2016, so it won’t follow the very next week after Superman/Batman.

aaron bell • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

well, i guess this means we can kiss any hopes of a justice league movie happening goodbye. there’s no way this will earn as much as they’d want it to, in order to keep making more movies in this ‘series.’

Trent • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

You mean we got to wait an extra year for Batfleck?! Say it isn’t so!

mikelabs • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

face it.. DC SUCKS!! DC WILL ALWAYS SUCK !!! MARVEL SOOO MUCH BETTER. Better characters and better stories.. Granted the last x-men and spider mans sucked balls. you cant top the original cast on those movies. So unoriginal Hollywood has become its a fucking joke.. stick to the comics…

None of the studios will ever make the movies the way it should be made and with the right ppl. EGOs get in the way. no matter how hard they try. Besides it should really be a “cartoon” not live action looks so cheesy w the special defects..

PSound • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

I live DC, but Marvel certainly has more character.

I hope the X-Men movies develop a strong Cable so we can make the Deadpool/Cable movie!

Are you guys fans of graphic novels, insiders or authors? Or just fans of film? DC has more interesting character universe and stories. It spawns better characters. Yes DC films suck except for Nolan’s trilogy. Marvel does great in film. But it has few memorable storylines. The constant cloning of every character – and the discontinuity runs rampant. Directors don’t honor the canon. I have my own novel in the works. If and when it publishes, I won’t carve up licensing like Marvel has either. Spider-Man should have a place in the Avengers in the future, X-men should have awareness of Spider-Man etc… DC sucks? Have you read “The Long Halloween”? Or “Hush”? The DC universe canon is so well done even video games like Batman Arkham are an excellent story telling experience. Why was Spider-Man great even if now we look down on Toby? Because we needed technology to support Peter Parker’s story. And what beyond the origin? Nothing, because Marvel doesn’t do much with it’s characters beyond origin. Dark Phoenix was great but Singer handed that franchise off and it too was trashed. Marvel has so many characters with potential but FEW reach it. Avengers is the only one, and yes DC should reboot and follow that matrix. To out-and-out say DC sucks or Marvel is better. Real readers and regular people that want great stories with their super heroes know better.

Alex • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

I thought I was going to agree with you until you said “Better characters and better stories”…DC movies suck compared to Marvel but do you read any comics? DC is CLEARLY superior to Marvel’s shitty comics. Their characters suck and most have boring ass stories with just a few exceptions. DC clearly reigns the comic world…but when it comes to movies…Marvel wins by miles.

Beginning to think the WB is not the place for any DC product. It’s like they stick to the b&w demographic rule book which tells you to leech all the creativity out the product in hopes no ones notice the story is even shallower than a puddle. By the way, the “We just want to do it right..” line is the same one the WB is using when explaining the long-delayed Wonder Women movie as well. Corporate drones.

S4H1 • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Ant-Man should be happy. They should move it up a week to July 24th.

Marvel Untitled(May 2016) should move up into April. ASM3 should move back to July. Marvel Untitled(July 2016) should then move to November.

Anonymous • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Agh. Because what DC really needs is try and compete at the box office with marvel’s established empire over the genre. Come on DC, don’t live in the shadow on the big screen. Just work on you baby… Just work on you.

40yearoldstitzer • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

The script is being retooled and shooting is being rescheduled to shoot back to back with Justice League

Rich • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

This makes sense if the rumors about shooting Superman/Batman back to back with a Justice League movie are true – gives breathing room to tighten up both scripts and make sure actors they want for JL are available.

jones • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

As a DC fanboy this is very disappointing news. But as a DC fanboy this makes some sense. They want/need this to be a big success and delaying the release to make it stronger is smart in the long run. Getting some distance from avengers 2 certainly can’t hurt.

CheesusCrist • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Could he do THE STAND after all, then?

Michael • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

They want to film MOS2 and Justice League back to back, and this was the only way to have both scripts ready as well as having the whole cast available.

May 2016: MOS2
May 2017: Justice League

Then they move on to Del Toro’s Justice League Dark movie and the solo League movies. In the meantime, WB still has plans for Suicide Squad on the big screen by Christmas 2015.

Tex Luthier • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

I have to say, Man of Steel was Superman for idiots. The story and storytelling were aweful. The CGI was bombastic yet fun to watch. Despite that I am still looking forward to this Batman-Superman feature.

I collected comic books from roughly ’72-’87 and DC Comics “World’s Finest” was always one of my favorites. To see these two iconic characters on the big screen together (even if it turns out no-so-good) would be a thrill – even more so than the X-Men: Apocalypse.

Jjb • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Amen!

Miffy • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

Man of Steel was awful. Just a bunch of soulless action sequences tied together with the thinnest of stories. Like watching a videogame.

Its defenders absolutely puzzle me; they must not have ever seen a decent movie.

whatever • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

You must be a fan of Superman 3 and 4. Go check those out and then come back and bitch about the Man of Steel.

Want a look at something soulless? Check at the trash nominated for Oscar.

joe • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

everything would have been better with man of steel if christopher nolan had directed.

chas potts • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

What is everybody arguing about? Super hero movies are made for children.

fuck off tentpole haters • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

And art house trash is made for assholes like you. Enjoy.

Chris had a point.......... • on Jan 17, 2014 5:24 pm

………insofar as in adjusted terms Superman Returns does still adjust to less tha Man of Steel by about 30/40 million dollars. However, Man of Steel also had 3D and Imax premiums which Returns didn’t have which effectively accounts for a decent chunk of the remaining difference. It’s visible on Box Office Mojo’s charts.

MoS did do a lot better internationally but every tentpole big enough is doing better across foreign markets now compared to 6/7 years ago even so it wins on that aspect easily over Returns. But, basically Chris has a point that the performance of the films isn’t quite the chasm some would try and claim.

And also………Superman Returns was a better film than Man of Steel and had significantly more heart to it.